Notes
I decided to run this race again since I had signed up with the
Missouri Beef council earlier this year to run either a half marathon
or a full marathon by the end of September. They will reimburse me
for expenses when I send a picture. I had to wear their shirt the
entire race which is a nice red and white shirt.
I've been running the Thursday night trail races and ran fairly hard
in the heat Thursday evening so was hoping I would be rested. Sleep
was pretty poor last night and I woke up with sore calf muscles.
Also, weight was up to 158 due to some poor eating yesterday. I took
a shower which helped the calves and had planned to massage them
lightly but was running out of time. I arrived and warmed up for
about 12 minutes and used the bathroom 1 more time. Goal was to run
1:30 or faster. It was sunny and temperature was 51F so 40 degrees
cooler than my race Thursday night and it felt wonderful. I lined up
in the 3rd row and was amazed how many people I passed going up the
slight hill at the beginning. The 10Kers started 30 min after us.
The first 2.3 miles were on the streets and then we hit the trails
which were mostly gravel but there is a couple sections now that are
concrete. We followed different trails for the next 7.5 miles so
overall very flat. I took a cup of water at the first water station.
I caught up to some runners at about 3 miles from the Mizzou Running
Club and passed them. The next water station I skipped since they
weren't holding out cups to take. About mile 7 the Mizzou runners
caught back up and ended up running with 4 of them for a few miles.
Two of them went ahead but stayed behind the other 2 until mile when
the first major hills started. One of them went ahead of me and the
other fell behind. At the other water stations some were handing out
cups and others there were people there but I had to take the water
off the table myself which is kind of unexpected. The hills were tough
and both calves and left quad was feeling sore. Pace slowed to over 7
min for the 2 miles of hills. At 12 miles, the terrain goes mostly
down so was able to get back to 6:36 for the last mile. I think the
course is a bit short since had 13.04 miles. Overall time was
1:26:50, 18th of 745, and 1 of 60 (40 - 49) which was a shock since
they do 10 year age groups. With such large age groups I am surprised
they didn't do 5 years. There was another 40-something year old but
he was 1st place Masters.
There were a few bands (not great in my opinion but appreciated) along
the course and spectators. The mile markers were much more accurate
than when I ran it 2 years ago. After the race I watched a few
runners come in and then ran some more. I ended up on the 10K course
at some point so followed it and managed to get 20 miles for the day.
The line for BBQ pork was still long when I got back so didn't get in
line yet. A woman walked up to me and asked if I was AE and gave me
my award. I am not sure if there was a ceremony but there were still
runners coming in. I got in line for food. They had buns, bbq pork,
and sauce. I took some pork and sauce and skipped the bun. Some
sides would be nice but they weren't serving anything else. Also,
skipped the 1 free beer. I didn't see anything else to drink but
managed to get down without any water. Then went over to the
RecoverFast booth and had them use their ARP device on my quads and calves.
They've done this on me before but wasn't sure how much it helped since I didn't
have a major issue. It is supposed to loosen your muscles and it worked today.
Every year I've run has been a different course. Last 2 times have
been slightly short and these courses both used a lot of flat trail.
I think the previous course was more road than trail and also more
hills. Actually ran a good time for it being long and the extra hills
that year.
2013 - 1:26:50 (13.03) 18 of 745, 1 of 60 (40 - 49)
2011 - 1:26:49 (13.04) 4 of 643, 1 of 48 (40 - 49)
2009 - 1:27:10 (13.38) 6 of 653, 1 of 22 (40 - 44)
There was a colorful finisher medal
which may be one of the nicest medals I have
received. I got a colorless gold medal with a blue ribbon for the 1st
place age group. I really prefer the colorful medal. So far I have
run this every other year so maybe not again until 2015?